the girl on the bench

Chapter 18

I walk in to work preparing myself for the conversation I'm about to have with my manager about the other night. I see my manager, Steve, as I walk up the stairs. "Sophie! What brings you in today?" He asks seemingly happy to see me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I ask him and his face drops instantly. He directs me to a table and waits until I sit down. "Last Saturday after work, I was waiting for a friend to pick me up and I saw Harry. Steve... he tried to force himself on to me" I say to him. I can see him cringe as he rubs his hands over his face. "I don't want to go into details but it was all caught on the camera out the back" I say looking down to my hands. He awkwardly pats my shoulder and thanks me for telling him. He tells me that Harry quit Saturday night but didn't give a good reason as to why. He now understands it's because of what he did. I'm overcome with relief when hearing that. I liked working at the bar and I didn't want to give it up but I was not prepared to work around Harry again.

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When I got home I set myself up in my studio before deciding to FaceTime G. She has been so busy lately working on a promotional song in collaboration with Bonds about period undies. Her and a few other influencers and artists are promoting the underwear and since she's an artist, she's written a song called 'unapologetic'. She's also getting prepared to start her next tour for her upcoming album. She's warned me that she'll have to start touring the country soon and I don't really know what to expect but I'm excited for her. When I click her name, it rings for no more than two seconds before a zoomed in mouth and teeth appears on the screen. I laugh at the sight. "Hi baby" the mouth says to me. "Hey! What's going on?" I ask her still giggling. "I'm in a rut and Char is not being fun with me" she say panning the camera over to Charlotte who sits on the other side of the couch giving G an annoyed stare. "Georgia is not listening to me, Sophie! Help!" She says with a dramatic exasperated look on her face. G pans the camera back to herself and I can see her whole face this time. "Georgia!" I say and she cringes. "Listen to Char. She's there for a reason and that reason is to deal with the boring crap so let her do her job" I say sternly. She pouts at me. "You called me Georgia" she says still pouting. I laugh. She gasps as if suddenly remembering why I called her "How did today go?" She asks. "The prick quit Saturday night after it happened. Steve was shocked but he was nice about it" I tell her not making eye contact and shrugging. "Who's a prick?" I hear Charlotte say in the background. G turns to her and tells her what happened. "Holy fuck. Are you alright?" She asks me. I laugh "Yeah, he didn't hurt me". "Are you sure? You've got marks on your neck" Charlotte says furrowing her brows and moving closer to the phone to get a better look. Both G and I laugh and I go bright red. Charlotte looks at the both of us and throws her hands in the air. "Never mind" she says and moves out of frame. "What are you doing today?" She asks me. I show her the blank canvas in front me. "Commission?" She asks and I nod. "Are you going to busy all day?" I ask her. She nods and glances over at Charlotte. "All fucking day!" she whispers. I giggle. "OK, I'll let you guys go" I say to her. She pouts. "I'll text you?" she says and I nod. There's a struggle and I can only hear mumbling, screaming and then I see only a blur. G's phone drops to the floor and I can see the ceiling. A dark figure of Charlotte  picks the phone up and I can see her face clearly now. "Sophie, I just wanted to let you know that it's Georgia's birthday next week" Charlotte says quickly and I can see she's running around the room. I laugh to the situation but am confused as to what she's saying. I hear G say something in the background and Charlotte spins around with the phone so the space behind her becomes a blur. "Keep next Saturday free, I'm planning something for her" Charlotte continues speaking fast before the phone is whisked away. G's face takes over the screen "Ignore what she said. I have to go kill someone. Bye babe" she says as the phone abruptly hangs up. Her birthday. She never told me about it. I'm thankful for Charlotte for warning me but confused as to why G didn't say anything.